Incertus - Predestination To Damnation
Incertus are a relatively new group from Poland; not much is known about them save that they are a 3 piece with a rather simple, but effective death metal sound and their first full length debut unleashed hell on ears in March of 2021. While most of the music on this album goes pretty quick with the album clocking barely 30 minutes, and churning out grim, old school grooves in the vein of Helslave, very old Immolation, and even Torture Killer, these guys have some tricks up their sleeve that help make their music pretty noticeable. Tracks like ‘Preludium…’ and ‘I, The Fool’ are groovy, almost melo death sounding in the vein of Amon Amarth with tons of melody built into the riffs and solos, but it is bass that really stands out. Not sounding traditional or technical, it sounds almost clunky, like a train running over a track, and this makes the music sound a bit odd but grips attention, especially on a track like ‘The Return Of Darkness And Evil.’ Vocally, the band uses the standard grim grunt but layer in black metal shrieks here and there.
Those looking for faster head bangers will enjoy the title track, with its Immolation speed riffs and more straightforward death metal approach, but even here the band mixes things up a bit. Going for a little more atmosphere the gothic church organ sounding outro ties in very well with the whole ‘damnation’ theme of the album, which segments into the next track which is just keyboard/ organ the whole way through as a way to bridge the album. It might have gone better if the group had just made this track one long one with a hell of an outro to make it more effective, because even with this lull it still bangs pretty hard. Then we get delve more into the black metal side of things with ‘The Devil Takes Me Away.’ Considerably grittier than the other track, one can hear the grim kvlt side of Incertus with its murky gurgles and hissing riffs, but it shows a very old school side too versus the more 90s groove laden death metal they’ve been cranking out earlier on the album.
The closing ‘To Hell With Us’ speeds things up again with more Immolation sounding death metal and a bit more liveliness to the guitar solos which almost makes it sound like one is hearing a more technical version of Incertus, but the overall ferocity of the music is much appreciated. It may not stomp one’s ears in like ‘Rise For Torment’ but it acts as a strong closer for the album which will make a lasting impression. Ultimately, fans may not be sure what to make of Incertus. Are they groove or melo death or just straight out crushing death metal with melodic influences? The album has a lot going on here that they could expand on the future so it will be interesting to see what direction these three go in next. The album theme of damnation and all is a bit of re-run but Incertus make it sound interesting enough to try out.
3 / 5 STARS
Those looking for faster head bangers will enjoy the title track, with its Immolation speed riffs and more straightforward death metal approach, but even here the band mixes things up a bit. Going for a little more atmosphere the gothic church organ sounding outro ties in very well with the whole ‘damnation’ theme of the album, which segments into the next track which is just keyboard/ organ the whole way through as a way to bridge the album. It might have gone better if the group had just made this track one long one with a hell of an outro to make it more effective, because even with this lull it still bangs pretty hard. Then we get delve more into the black metal side of things with ‘The Devil Takes Me Away.’ Considerably grittier than the other track, one can hear the grim kvlt side of Incertus with its murky gurgles and hissing riffs, but it shows a very old school side too versus the more 90s groove laden death metal they’ve been cranking out earlier on the album.
The closing ‘To Hell With Us’ speeds things up again with more Immolation sounding death metal and a bit more liveliness to the guitar solos which almost makes it sound like one is hearing a more technical version of Incertus, but the overall ferocity of the music is much appreciated. It may not stomp one’s ears in like ‘Rise For Torment’ but it acts as a strong closer for the album which will make a lasting impression. Ultimately, fans may not be sure what to make of Incertus. Are they groove or melo death or just straight out crushing death metal with melodic influences? The album has a lot going on here that they could expand on the future so it will be interesting to see what direction these three go in next. The album theme of damnation and all is a bit of re-run but Incertus make it sound interesting enough to try out.
3 / 5 STARS
1. Preludium And Ultima Necat
2. Rise For Torment
3. The Return Of Darkness And Evil
4. I, The Fool
5. Predestination To Damnation
6. Postludium
7. The Devil Takes Me Away
8. To Hell With Us
2. Rise For Torment
3. The Return Of Darkness And Evil
4. I, The Fool
5. Predestination To Damnation
6. Postludium
7. The Devil Takes Me Away
8. To Hell With Us
